27/05/2025

BIZ & FINANCE TUESDAY | MAY 27, 2025

17

Misinformation clouds US-China trade truce

Thai April exports slightly above forecast BANGKOK: Thailand’s export growth slightly beat forecast in April but was slower than the previous month, while the Commerce Ministry warned of challenges from US tariffs in the second half of the year. Exports rose 10.2% in April from a year earlier, compared with a 9.1% year-on-year increase seen in a Reuters poll, and followed March’s 17.8% rise. Exports, a key driver of the Thai economy, should continue to increase in the current quarter, Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, head of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office, told a press conference. In April, exports to the United States, Thailand’s biggest market, increased 23.8% from a year earlier, while shipments to China rose 3.2%. Exports of computers and parts surged 75% in April from a year earlier, while shipments of agricultural goods declined 19.6%, with rice export volumes down 37.3% annually. Thailand’s exports in the second half of the year will face a risk of US tariffs after a moratorium expires in July, the ministry said in a statement. Thailand faces a 36% US tariff if a reduction cannot be negotiated with Washington before the moratorium ends. The US has set a 10% baseline tariff for most nations while the moratorium is in place. Discussions with the US trade representative have been positive, Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan told the press conference. Exports should remain “the hero” this year for Thailand, he added. “Our exports have stronger fundamentals. We have more stable market distribution. “Let’s not be too pessimistic”. In the January-April, exports increased 14% annually. Imports rose 16.1% in April from a year earlier versus a forecast rise of 8.5%. Thailand recorded a trade deficit of US$3.3 billion last month, compared with a forecast deficit of US$0.80 billion. Pichai said in a worst case scenario, exports should grow more than 4% this year, beating a ministry target of 2% to 3%. Last week, he said exports would also be helped by increased shipments to countries other than the United States. – Reuters HANOI: Vietnamese airline Vietjet Air said yesterday it will buy 20 widebody Airbus A330-900 planes, doubling its order from the aviation giant in a deal worth an estimated US$8 billion (RM33 billion). The budget carrier’s chairman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao signed the deal with Airbus as French President Emmanuel Macron looked on as he made an official visit to Hanoi. The carrier said the order was part of its plans to expand its operations in Asia as well as introducing future long-haul services to Europe. The announcement comes on top of the 20 A330-900s ordered by VietJet in February last year. The airline said the A330s would enable it to “increase flights on high-capacity routes across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as to introduce future long haul services to Europe”. The list price of the aircraft was around €7 billion (RM33 billion), an Airbus source told AFP. “Vietjet remains dedicated to delivering greater connectivity and sustainable air travel for millions of passengers in Vietnam and around the world,” Nguyen said in the Vietjet statement. The Vietjet fleet currently numbers 115 aircraft, all Airbus, including seven A330-300s operating to destinations in Australia, India and Kazakhstan. The carrier has another 96 single-aisle A320s on order from Airbus. – AFP Vietjet Air to buy 20 Airbus A330s

observed that the “Chinese were getting very excited”. Last month, disinformation security firm Cyabra uncovered an anti-US influence campaign on the Elon Musk-owned X involving thousands of fake or bot-operated accounts. They targeted global brands such as Gucci, Chanel and Amazon, amplifying the unfounded narrative that they produced goods in China while branding them as “Made in France” or “Made in Italy”. The accounts blamed Trump’s trade policies for enabling such deceptive marketing practices, while urging consumers to ditch those brands and purchase products directly from China. “This was a digital blitz. A third of the accounts weren’t real, but the backlash they triggered was,” Dan Brahmy, chief executive of Cyabra, told AFP. “Fake profiles hijacked luxury brands, pushed anti-US narratives, and steered buyers Last month, AFP also uncovered viral TikTok videos by Chinese content creators promoting the spurious claim that international luxury brands were secretly manufacturing their products in China. The targeted brands did not respond to the claim, which appeared to be part of a sprawling campaign exploiting US-China trade tensions to market counterfeit luxury goods. The false narratives are unlikely to fade as trade negotiations continue, experts say. “I believe these narratives will continue and will evolve in parallel with strengthening the Chinese government’s negotiating position,” said Mertha from Johns Hopkins University. – AFP away without raising suspicion. “That’s what makes it effective.”

China to shop for Chinese goods, and that US citizens – reeling from the economic fallout of the trade war – were queuing up to purchase supplies in bulk. “These narratives are almost certainly curated by the state, which has become increasingly fluent in harnessing social media,” Andrew Mertha, director of the SAIS China Global Research Centre at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP. “(They) help align Chinese public opinion with governmental strategy, in this case demonstrating – albeit inaccurately, certainly prematurely – that ‘the US is already feeling the pain, so China must stay the course.’” US President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have sent jitters through the world economy, unnerving investors and roiling financial markets. Under the May 12 truce, the United States agreed to temporarily reduce the tariff on Chinese imports to 30% from 145%, while China said it would lower its import duty on American goods to 10% from 125%. Some of the false narratives emerged before the agreement but have continued to spread online, fueling confusion and a broader wave of information chaos. “A lot of friends in China asked me: Are there no eggs in the United States? Is it very unsafe? Are people rushing to buy things? Have you stockpiled anything?” Vivian Wei, a Chicago-based content creator, told AFP. “Some people even (suggested) not to come to the United States for tourism or study.” The rumours prompted Wei to tour several supermarkets across Chicago, only to find shelves stocked. While American shoppers seemed unfazed by the swirl of online misinformation, Wei

The cost of the staple has soared in recent months, creating a major headache for Japan’s unpopular leadership ahead of upper house elections due in July. Farm Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the strategy in recent months of auctioning rice from the government’s strategic reserve had failed to reduce prices in stores. Officials have therefore “decided to sell it in voluntary contracts” to “large retailers, who treat 10,000 tonnes of rice annually”, Koizumi, the son of former premier Junichiro Koizumi, said. This rice will hit shelves “in early June at the earliest” and the volume of rice the government will release this time – 300,000 tonnes – will be expanded if demand is strong, he added. Koizumi’s predecessor Taku Eto resigned last week after saying he never buys rice because he gets it free, sparking public fury. Data on Friday showed rice prices rocketed an eye-watering 98.4% year-on-year in April, slightly more than the previous month’s increase. Factors behind the rice shortfall include poor harvests caused by hot weather in 2023 and panic-buying prompted by a “megaquake” warning last year. Record numbers of tourists have also been blamed for a rise in consumption while some traders are believed to be hoarding the grain. – AFP WASHINGTON: From false claims of Americans panic-buying Chinese goods to bot-driven attacks on US brands, a tide of misinformation is casting a shadow over a temporary trade truce between Washington and Beijing. The world’s two biggest economies agreed earlier this month to pause reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, a surprise de-escalation in their bitter trade war following high-level talks in Geneva. But an alternate reality is unfolding across social media platforms, including China’s Douyin and Weibo, where a surge of falsehoods is fueling anti-American sentiment that could undermine the fragile truce. One online video, which garnered millions of views across those platforms and TikTok, claims to show panicked American shoppers snapping up Chinese-branded television sets in the aftermath of trade tensions. But in reality, that was old footage from 2018 showing Black Friday shopping frenzy at a US supermarket. The claims were further amplified by Chinese state media outlets, including China Daily , which ran headlines such as: “Americans are starting to stock up like crazy amid tariffs and snapping up Chinese-branded TVs.” A news clip on its website – more recycled footage from 2018 – bears a “file footage” watermark in the upper left corner, apparently to shield the outlet from legal liability. Other unfounded claims emerged on Chinese platforms about Americans flying to o Falsehoods on social media platforms fuel anti-American sentiment

Japan pledges to cut rice price with direct sales to retailers TOKYO: Japan’s new farm minister said yesterday the country’s embattled government would release reserve rice directly to large retailers in an attempt to bring down prices for consumers after the recent spike.

Arata Hirano, owner of the restaurant Shokudou Arata, pours rice into a cooker in Tokyo. – REUTERSPIC